Chapter 85: A Hero for the Children
As she moved from the hidden escape route, she heard the loud voice of her grandfather who questioned Conney about where she was holding herself, but Conney was a shrewd lady who could play people on a fiddle, something she admired a lot in her grandmother, being a strong woman shouldering the heavy weight of the kingdom.
'It seems only the two of us know about this tunnel.'
Making her way out from the slum, the familiar dirty alleys once again appeared in front of her eyes, as she walked slowly making her way to the Harbor something she didn't want to happen, occurred when the calls of some kids stopped her in place.
"Bonney-onee-chan! You returned home? Why did you abandon us?"
"When will you come back to play with us?"
"We missed you, onee-chan!"
Those kids who were dirty from the environment they lived in, the slums of Everfall, rushed with everything they got in their small bodies, immediately grabbing onto her limbs, beginning to cry their eyes out as the reunion was long due.
She wasn't repulsed by those kids, and instead remained frozen as she observed each of them, crying out and questioning her, and the one that stuck the most was the notion she "abandoned" them. The sting was so harsh, she couldn't help but ask the kids.
"Who told you, I abandoned you?"
"... It was Riannon! He told us that you abandoned us to live with the scary doctor. Also, he told us that you fooled us, since you are the Princess, but are you really?? I heard the adults saying you fought mister Kylian who used to give us free food."
She frowned a bit when hearing that Riannon shifted his attention on the kids she was looking after when she lived in the slums, hiding away from Queen Conney and the Royal Guards, and shaking her head as she wrapped her arms around the kids, she explained to them.
"I would never do such a thing, as abandoning you … but it's true that I am the Princess, and the reason I choose to remain in hiding, is so I do not attract unwanted attention to you guys. I might be able to run, but you'll just suffer because of me."
It took a while for her to explain to the kids her true identity and reasoning, which shocks the kids who ask Bonney if she is truly a Princess, taking some time to warm up to the fact their Big Sister was the Princess of the Kingdom.
Seeing their pure, innocent selfs, made Bonney who was giving them a hug to start tearing up, later on abandoning all of her plans to a quick return to the Harbor and settle down at the bulletproof safety of the Caravel, guarded by the strong Lunarian and Eleine.
She no longer cared in those moments about avoiding the search of the Royal Guards, Kylian or her Grandfather.
"Onee-chan you have to listen to me. People are so mean here, not even letting us work for some coins to get bread. It was so easy with you, onee-chan, because you were our Boss." mentioned one of the young boys, who was only 12 years old, who tried to fill the large boots Bonney was filling as the leader of the kids.
Slowly, the kids who were taken to a safe location by Bonney who knew the Slums as the inside of her palm, started sharing all sort of stories that she missed from that month of absence, from the bad and good, mostly bads as it happened to the orphaned kids.
As she watched those kids, who were on the boundary of malnutrition, she couldn't help but blame herself for being a cold bitch who didn't even think much about those kids when leaving them to hide from Conney.
'Am I truly what Riannon and the others make me out to be? A heartless bitch who is only interested in her own safety and betterment, regardless that I use others to achieve that?'
'No, no, I am not that. Dad and mom taught me to be kind with everyone, regardless of their status, because dad was also like them struggling to feed himself and his sick parents.'
'I still have to settle them down, and be assured that once I leave Everfall, they will be safe and grow into the people they dreamed of being. Until I am sure they are safe, I will not depart from Sorbet.'
In her own quiet, as she was wrapping her arms around the kids, she thinks about how she has unfinished business in Everfall, being required to tie all the loose threads before leaving with Vlad to her new adventure.
With her memories flashing past her eyes as he was staring at the black-haired man who had his hair tied into a loose tail with thick glasses on his eyes that made him look like a Bookworm, a total nerd, instead of the cold, calculative person she met the first day, the one who later on as time passed having her closer to him, transforming into someone akin to a father figure who would guide her regardless into what she wanted to achieve.
"So? Did you find them mistreated?" asked Vlad as he watched this little girl he started getting fond of as time passed.
"They weren't harmed by the older ones … but they struggled in finding food, and this is something that worries me. I choose to stay on the ship and train myself, with a small worry that grandma might send Fischer or Garald to lift me up."
"Mhm, do you have something on your mind? On how to help those kids?"
Vlad invited Bonney to have a seat on the comfortable chair beside the desk, and seeing how it took a while for her to respond, it was enough to tell him a lot about his little girl.
"... No, this is why I came to you, Vlad. I want to hear your opinion about something that came into my mind after spending some time with the kids."
"Sure, what is on your mind?"
"I want to make sure they can live decently even after I leave Sorbet. But this is the hardest part, I don't know how to settle them down. Placing them in an orphanage takes a lot of money, and those people running that place mistret the children."
"So, the orphanage is excluded? Okay, what else do you have on your mind? Let's entertain this discussion, and brainstorm some ideas that can work."
This is where Bonney who couldn't help but smile at Vlad who showed a warm side of himself, beginning to bounce back and forth various ideas, until she noticed the black-haired man incline on his luxurious chair, later on returning to write down various ideas on a sheet of paper.
"Not bad, we got some ideas that are worth trying. But this one is the one with the highest chance of success and long-term gain for your little friends." remarked Vlad who circled an idea on his sheet paper.
It didn't take long for Vlad, who was like a living encyclopedia, to share some great ideas with her, considering some long term parameters that she would be interested in.
"The rest might not work because it involves the children. However, if we give the chance for these kids to learn something to do in life, the prejudices of their upbringing will be nullified."
Vlad continued on developing that idea as he watched the pink-haired girl nodding in agreement with his points, and as night passed by with the two talking about the kids, a plan where they would be placed into an apprentice program was shaped.
"You want them to get up on their feet instead of relying on others for help? That's how you do it by teaching them a craft, regardless of what it is, but as you told me, you want to center them according to what dreams they have.
This will make it easier for the kids to adapt and get used to a new environment, and it will make it easier for them to learn."
He didn't mind assisting Bonney in this matter since it didn't even consume much of his brain space, and his first interaction with them was decent enough to convince him they weren't bad seeds, and just planted to grow inside a dry and icy ground.
Vlad spending time with Bonney to formulate a plan that would help her little friends, ignited a spark of genius inside her, clearly seeing each benefit in doing as his matured friend was pointing out.
Regaining her spirits after gaining a method of truly helping her little friends, she got up from her seat and moved next to Vlad giving him a sudden tight hug, burying her head into his chest, which took the man by surprise deep inside.
"Thank you, Vlad. You always helped me since day one without asking anything out of me. Now that you regained your sight, even my powers aren't required … making me feel as if I am not contributing with anything."
Hearing her raw emotion, he patted her back, replying to her in a serene tone. "Little girl, I know what you are going through where you don't even know in which way to step toward. Anytime you want to talk with me, regardless of whether I am training or I am studying, don't worry."
"Don't consume yourself believing you are doing nothing for the group, just your presence, you training with Eleine, talking with Titania, and even mocking that foolish Lunarian who thinks he can defeat me if he holes himself up training his Armament Haki, is enough to make my day."
"Thank you." called out Bonney again, as she remained hugging Vlad like a little puppy, only to break it out when she felt his calm breathing, smelled his fragrance, and when she heard his steady heartbeat.
Flustered, she stormed out from the Captain's Cabin, leaving Vlad to smile evilly as he murmured to himself, talking with someone else still remaining in the room.
"She is truly an intelligent young lady with immense potential, and the willingness to get her hands dirty to see her ways being completed."
{You are a strange human, focusing so much of your resources on those weak girls, instead of focusing solely on yourself and claiming the Mausoleum Key.}
"That's something which shouldn't be of your concern. Even though I partially regained my sight, I can feel it drifting from me each day, even when I am using glasses."
{And yet? You are wasting precious time where you can see, to actually do what? Grooming some humans that will never reach your level of power in their entire lives? What's the point, if you can't use them to your advantage?}
Vlad who switched on having a talk with his sword, Anathema, couldn't help but release a laugh, questioning his dark partner the obvious.
'You think this is a wasted investment from my end?'
{Is there a point in questioning this? You are aware deep down at the answer. Hah, and it's not as if you are doing this for having sex with them, because you aren't driven by that impulse of procreating.}
'Scrap metal, this is where you fail to understand, and maybe even that master of yours failed to understand. I was at times also like this, believing I could do everything on my own, just with my own power and royal soldiers.'
'When you reach a high stage, even if you are someone at the level of Quinn or Wormblood, or how currently Whitebeard, Kaido, Charlotte Linlin, Red-Hair Shanks, each of them have strong individuals following them and expanding his propagation of power and influence.'
'I can't split myself into multiple individuals, and this is where your Knights and Nobles are to pick on this job and expand your power and influence.'
{Hah, you'll understand how pointless it is doing that. When you reach a certain stage of power, those Knights, Nobles … Pawns will be just wasted time and investment. Only the King needs to be strong, and everyone will follow the law.}
'Each person has a different style of ruling, and will only remain to be seen when we get there and the seeds bear fruits.'
.
On the other hand, Bonney arrived all flustered inside the Girl's Cabin, confusing Eleine and Titania who initially thought Vlad did some advances on her since they didn't yet know if he was interested sexually in her or just found her interesting as someone to study, only to find out when the pink-haired girl took her notebook, beginning to write like a possessed woman.
"Has Vlad casted one of his spells on little Bon, to make her write with such a face?" asked Eleine while glancing from her bed at the young girl ignoring her remarks.
"I doubt Vlad would do this … It should be related to the worries Bonney was holding, and he should have placed her at ease. For sure, he cleared her doubts as he usually does with her."
"I don't know, but to me it feels Vlad started doting on Bonney far more than you Titania. Maybe, he thinks of her like a little sister, or a daughter, because that's the side of him that he shows when teaching her."
"With me, we even go into a deep skin-to-skin interaction when it comes to training, but with her, it's all shown by example and with many questions… Ahhh, I wish he spent so much time with me."
Ignoring Eleine and Titania gossiping right next to her, Bonney noted down each of the slum kid's dreams in this notebook of hers, before writing down various descriptions to what type of jobs might fit them around Everfall, and later on noting down each craftsman of the City.
"Girl, just go to sleep, it's already 2 AM … You make it hard for me to sleep since your pen does some strange sounds … have Vlad fix it in the morning, it will take him minutes, sigh."
The black-haired woman was changed into her sexy nightgown while the wooly blanket was thrown off because she didn't like how hot she would get, and was trying to sleep since 1 AM, only to fail because of Bonney's writing.
She got ignored by the possessed young girl, who kept on doing her writing that would make a certain someone proud until 4 AM, to the point where mentally worn-out she crawled in her bed, and without changing herself, she drowned in the precious sleep.
On the second day since she came up with her plan with Vlad's help, she returned to the slum to meet her old friends moving around to a construction site, and since the last time Bonney kicked the shit out of Riannon, the youngster kept his quiet, with only Allan greeting the girl.
"How are you doing, Bonney?"
"As you can guess, I came to check on the kids. Where can I find them?"
"Clearly not here." commented Riannon with half of his voice, looking annoyed at Bonney who was wearing her new clothes.
"Bonney, I heard Claums wanted to go to the Harbor for some reason, he might have brought the rest with him. Other than that, I really don't know."
"I see, thanks. Also, good luck with the work."
"Mhm."
Finding out she was required to take a turn around in her journey she rushed back at the Harbor thinking the kids might have gotten themselves in some trouble with the Guards.
Before she managed to return to the Harbor, inside the Dark-Brown Caravel, a peculiar group of kids stopped in front of a large man who also froze down when noticing the brats as they called him all sort of cool words.
"Wowww, doesn't the mister look like an Angel?" pointed out a little boy, looking up at the gigantic Lunarian, who had his long white hair styled in a unique way they didn't see in Everfall.
"An angel with black wings? He must be their leaders." remarked another kid, noticing the black wings of the Lunarian.
"He is like those heroes from the stories said by old Mabs when he was drunk, about the hero fighting to defeat the evil watching everything from the top of the world."
With that particular remark, Dalyon sharpened his gaze on the young boy who remarked that line, freezing him when asking coldly.
"Kid, who told you that story? Who is this Mabs?"
"He is the owner of the big pub, a good person who helps us with food when people don't eat all their food." replied the biggest boy, the one called Claums who stuck to help his friend who froze under the heavy pressure released by Dalyon.
"Also, mister likes to talk a lot of nonsense when he gets drunk. But his stories are always entertaining."
Dalyon didn't have many interactions with kids, since he lived with his parents in an abandoned, inhospitable island in the New World to avoid the hunters sent by the World Government, and the way he was looking at those kids, was of a cold intent, only that he was confused and had no idea what to do with them.
His cold and angry expression scared the kids into cowering a little bit, and before anything rash happened to the kids who faced this large Lunarian, Eleine who was inside the ship stepped out of her cabin together with Titania.
"Dalyon, you should learn how to smile once in a while, instead of acting like a prick, especially with children."
The kids shifted their attention to the mellow voice coming from the upper levels of the Caravel, and instantly got happy when noticing who appeared to rescue them from the difficult pinch.
When Eleine stepped on the main deck while continuing to give Dalyon a look who could tell many, the kids rushed at her side, with the only girls in the group taking one of their legs.
"What happened to you, little dolls? Are you by chance looking for Bonney?"
"Mhmm, that's right. But also…" called out Claums who blushed when noticing Eleine's eyes stopping on him.
Then without him finishing his response, the stomach of 2 of the little girls who were like leeches attached to Eleine's legs, in a cute manner, responded on their own by turning around, an image that wasn't so dainty for the black-haired woman, who knew what true hunger was in her pitiful life.
"No need to tell me more, little ones. I fully understand. Just wait a bit and we'll get you delicious food."
Eleine, who considered herself most of the time, as a cold bitch, when noticing those kids who weren't malnourished but not puffy as a child should be, couldn't help but bring them to the kitchen, snapping at Dalyon who was returning to his cabin.
"Chef, why are you so quick to disappear from this picture? It's your responsibility as the one to greet them first, that you should also feed them. Why don't you prepare something quick for those children, and afterward you can resume to holding yourself in your room."
"I refuse to waste my time on those little ants. It's beneath someone as great as me, to lower so down."
"Ohh Kami! Can't you show your greatness to these little servants of yours? Look at how innocent they are? The faith you'll be gaining from them would be unmatched. I heard all their words for you.
The Hero who should defeat the Evil, the Leader of the Angels! Aren't you all of the above?" remarked Eleine, pushing all sorts of labels on Dalyon that would make him want to actually do something for the kids.
"Angel-onii-san, you know to cook? Can you … some food?" asked one of the little girls, who looked at Dalyon with cute eyes, something the young Lunarian never experienced in his life.
The sensation of being looked up by people, regardless that they were children, brought a new sensation in his body, and slowly in his mind, he settled down on helping the kids, but his mouth still sounded cool.
"... Fine. But you better don't tell that four eyes, otherwise I will punish you, flailing your soles in my flames."
As he warned the kids, Dalyon sparked flames from his hands to spook the kids, but it resulted in the contrary, generating the curiosity of the kids, who only stopped from assaulting the young Lunarian overwhelmed by the attention he was gaining since the time he was in Yehimal Mountain Temple.
It was only when Bonney, who was rushing back to the Ship, that those kids stopped their raid, and as he saw them look at her with teary eyes, one boy told Bonney how Riannon didn't give them any food because they talked with her.
'That bastard … He really is a petty guy. Argh, if I ever see your face, I'll make sure to break it, damned bastard.'
